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Web Application Architecture


A practical guide for building scalable web applications

Welcome to Web Application Architecture! This is a book I searched for 4 to 5 years ago after having become comfortable putting together React components. I could get most single task done I was set to accomplish, but I could still not completely understand how all the pieces fit together and how one would go about building a scalable application. I was never able to find such a book on Amazon, a book that is not focused on details of web frameworks and syntax but explains higher-level concepts. I was missing a guide with a generic approach in explaining the best practices and making the big picture of modern web development clearer.

This is my attempt to create that book and share my lessons learned from the last years. These are the ideas I have come to think that matter the most when building applications that should be scalable, maintainable, and robust. Applications that accomplish the task they were set to do while spending the least possible development effort. There are several excellent books, blogs, and online courses about specific web frameworks, so I try to avoid going into deep details about the web frameworks. However, as most of my web development in the last five years has been in React, it might show.

About the book

Structure

The book is divided in 4 parts:

Part 1: Application Fundamentals lays out the basis for the application. It gives the good fundamental to robust and scalable development process.

Part 2: Core Application is likely the most interesting as it as the name says about the core.

Part 3: Best Practices for scalable application is about the measures that the developer can take to ensure an efficient ongoing development. This chapter is mostly about how to keep on the velocity as the size of the project grows.

Part 4: Additional Services Describes the most common additional services that a companies are using to make the most out of their web applications. In contains topics such as how to set up and run A/B testing, how to utilise content management system (CMS) and so on.

Conventions

The state of the chapters are marked with these symbols in the table of content:

🟩 - chapter is ready

🟨 - chapter is under work, the content might be in a draft state

⬜️ - chapter is to be published soon